EU seeks 'unique' Brexit solution for Northern Ireland, BBC reports

Northern Ireland's border with the Republic of Ireland will be the only land frontier between the EU and Britain once the country withdraws, expected to happen in March 2019.

07.09.2017

The UK needs to take responsibility for finding a "unique solution" for Northern Ireland in its negotiations to leave the European Union and the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will give details later today, according to papers seen by the BBC.

Northern Ireland's border with the Republic of Ireland will be the only land frontier between the EU and Britain once the country withdraws, expected to happen in March 2019.

The document says people in both parts of Ireland should be able to get to work, go to school and seek medical treatment on either side of the border, the BBC reported. It could mean two different Brexit deals will be struck.

The EU will release a series of position papers as the UK parliament debates legislation which will turn all existing EU laws into domestic ones. Britain released its own position paper on Northern Ireland in August.

The Irish border runs for about 500 kilometres and is crossed by tens of thousands of people each day. Trade between the UK and Ireland was worth €19.9 billion euros in 2015, according to the British Irish Chamber of Commerce's website.

The UK wants to move Brexit talks on to trade, but the bloc wants to settle terms of the divorce first, specifically the border question, and how much Britain will pay for commitments made before it leaves and citizens' rights.

EU leaders will decide in October if "sufficient progress" has been made for the talks to move on to where the UK wants to take them. If not, then a decision may not come until December, leaving just over a year to work out a complex trade deal.